Seil Chat

Did you all notice the little drop-down menu Nick has added to Seil Chat - up on the left hand side, just under where it says Seil Chat?

On the 'blogs' bit there's a Balvicar Blog which is kept up to date and has a pretty amazing slide show of birds on the island. Who was it who saw a tiny wee bird and couldn't identify it? Is is one of any of those pictures?

Very interesting stuff on the rest of the drop-down too! Thanks Nick

Well done, Nonny! You're dead right - it is really interesting. For a wee moose, you're pretty observant. Thanks for the tip-off. Thanks too to whoever did the birds, flowers, butterflies (who is it?) etc and to Nick B. What about a file on local rodents.....?

I only knew it was there because Nick told me it was

I think the Balvicar Blog is written by Richard Wesley, the information is on the blog somewhere. I think the bird slideshow is pretty brilliant.

I don't think Nick should do anything about local rodents, I wouldn't want the local cat population to home in on me

Yes I have seen it before.....the guy has a bit of a Gavin Maxwell fetish.....and also believes that people who have lived here a long time do not appreciate it and further more we require him to show us the error of our ways.....aye right.

Can't say I saw any of that on his blog. I don't know him personally, so can't judge him.

SeventhSeil - interesting that once again you should refer to this author with such disdain. Indeed, I'm almost certain that most folk on here will be bewildered with your ire towards him.

.....so the question :

"did he abandon you as a small child ??"

No he did not.....as unfortunately he wasn't about when I was a small child.....any way he was too busy removing his giant south american otter from Terry Nutkins fingers....or the other way round....to notice me. My disdain for mr Maxwell comes from his position as one of the fathers of modern enviromentalism....ignoring the fact he was into in chronological order...motor racing,shark hunting,keeping non indigenous species of otter and of course Terry (It needs me to show you how to do tourism) Nutkins...

Well said seily Maxwell was a self obsessed environmentalist and guru who boiled shark livers on the isle of Soay for a few years after W.W.2. Today his little disciples and propagandists evoke his memory conveniently forgetting that he slaughtered thousands of basking sharks. These are the same folk[nearly to a man or woman all from the same crowded part of Britain by the way] who tell us that Corncrakes are endangered, when they are not in Europe. Their attempts to increase their numbers in the Wisles have been laughable. RSPB a charity has bought thousands of acres of croft land in the Hebrides to make proper habitat for these birds you'd think the clue for success is in their name.

I never knew that about Maxwell - that's terrible. As for the RSPB, they can all go and stuff their egos where the sun don't shine, along with SNH, after what they've been doing to the hedgehogs up on the Uists despite the advice and help offered by the rescue organisations. Yes, I know the hedgehogs have a reprieve, but the situation is going to be reviewed later.

ok ok - so now we know, there will be no need to mention it again !!!! pls!

Hi Nonny, what have you got against the RSPB and why are you on the side of the hedgehog on the Uists?

The breeding birds on these islands are not accustomed to the presence of this introduced species and incur many nest failings due to nest predation by hedgehog. Whilst I feel sorry that the hedgehog has been living the life of the fugitive, should many species face local extinction when there could be a way of avoiding this situation?

The Uists contain many species of bird that have been declining in Britain since the 1970’s and many rare species use these islands as migratory pit stops or specifically for breeding. It is most important to maintain these places in a way that encourages both these aspects.

I am not over fond of the RSPB but they do some invaluable work and their intentions are good. Do you know that the RSPB has more members than any political party has voters voting for them!

I think dubhsgeir was attacked by a corncrake as a child, do they know that they've some wonderfully rare birds nesting on their island...

So who introduced the hedgehogs ???

Was it the same person who's exploring the keeping of wolves and bears in Scotland ??

Hang on..........has that not been partially approved by a government agency ??!!

.
The RSPB are a QUANGO answerable to no-one except their own members. Their obsession with corncrakes (not rare or threatened in Europe at all) is odd, while their failure to increase corncrake numbers significantly in spite of throwing lots money at the problem would be amusing were it not for its sometimes negative impingement on human life in the Western Isles.

I cannot recommend Ian Mitchell's book Isles of the West too highly to anyone interested in the politics of land use and land ownership in western Scotland - a most entertaining and informative read.

(Click the link above or the picture to go to Amazon UK for more info and reviews)



- NickB

Oh, no, I think the person who introduced the hedgehogs should be shot at dawn. Bloody stupid thing to do, introducing a species alien to the island.

My argument with SNH and the RSPB is that they preferred to cull the hhogs instead of them being relocated. They insisted that relocation wouldn't work etc etc, and put loads of obstacles in place to make it more and more difficult for the Uist Hedgehog Rescue Project to operate. This was despite many learned people and hhog recuers, who knew what they were talking about, stating that relocation was possible, more humane and OK. And it cost thousands of pounds in taxpayers money to carry out the proposed cull.

Well, SNH and the RSPB have had to admit defeat in the end and have agreed that the Rescue should carry on and the cull was stopped. A review will take place in the future.

The hedgehogs on the Uists were introduced by man and they have been reeking chaos ever since. It's the same story all over the world e.g. New Zealand’s endemic bird species have evolved without the threat of small land dwelling predators such as rats and domestic cats. Some species nest on the ground because there has never been the threat of nest invasion and suddenly they are faced with the threat of predation from domestic cats and nest failure due to all the hungry rats that came ashore off of the ships (no offence Nonny).

As far as Corncrakes are concerned:

http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/details.php/5520/summ

Are we to just sit back and say bye bye?

No, we should obviously take action - but not destroy the incomers if there's a way to remove them instead.

My answer to you Canyu is go and read Isles of The West it will open your eyes infact nick put it better than i could.

Dubhsgeir, give us a general synopsis of the book. Does it deal with important things like the sixth extinction? Or is it just one mans maunderings about his own subjectivity?

Thought I saw a cane toad in Clachan today!!!!!!!!!!!!!

give us a general synopsis of the book.

Canyu, go back and click on the link in my previous post - you can read a synopsis of the book on Amazon, plus several reader reviews.

- NickB